Minister Mats Persson visited Karlstad University.
Swedish Minister for Education, Mats Persson, recently visited Karlstad University (Sweden), where, among other topics, EUNICE was given as an example of internationalisation.
In addition, Mats Persson got to know the research group Rose (Research on Subject-specific Education), which contributes to subject-specific education research in general, and science, mathematics and technology in particular, as well as to the development of theory and practice in schools and teacher education. “It’s interesting to learn more about how mathematics education can become more relevant so that pupils’ results improve. Especially with reference to our ongoing STEM initiative. Knowledge of mathematics, among other subjects, is needed in Sweden’s green transition and investment in more engineers. The expertise is especially important in a county like Värmland considering the local industries,” said Persson.
Mats Persson was able to discuss about strategic collaboration that helps develop Karlstad University, as well regional and national partners. Håkan Spjuth, Head of the Grants and Innovation Office, talked about the Academy for Smart Specialisation, a strategic partnership between academia, the region and the private sector that strengthens research and innovation at the university and contributes to regional development.
The visit by the Minister concluded with a discussion between Karlstad University’s Vice-Chancellor Jerker Moodysson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Margareta Friman, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Patrik Larsson, and the University Director, Anne-Christine Larsson Ljung, as well as Student Union Chair, Daniel Vamos, and Moa Andersen, Head of Educational Policy at Karlstad Student Union. Vice-Chancellor Jerker Moodysson, was happy about the outcome of the visit. “It’s a challenge to plan this type of visits since you need to fit in a lot of information in a limited amount of time. We chose to be quite strict when selecting items for the agenda. Instead of presenting a broad variety of our activities, we focused on a few areas that we know politicians are particularly interested in.”
